Easter can be be either a hard time for Christians or a joyous time. Hardline Christians - Jesus had to die for your sins, you horrible waste of a person. Easy-going Christians - understandably, can have a bit of a harder time with the blood parts of Easter than with the happy birth of Christmas. I'm a very, very, very liberal Christian. Do you believe in a higher power? And do you try to follow their teachings? Then I believe you are going to heaven, no matter what you call that higher power (Buddha, Allah, Yaweh, Science).
I had a old friend from college commit suicide this past week. I don't know why, or even how. We hadn't been in touch, other than the occasionally Facebook hello, for years. But I cried for probably 15 minutes straight when I heard about it. And it wasn't because I thought his suicide was going to doom him to hell, or even purgatory (not a Baptist concept). I cried because it made me sad that he wasn't on this Earth anymore. I'm sure he's in heaven, because he was one of the nicest, sweetest, most caring boys I ever knew. And I'm sad that he reached a point that he didn't see any other alternative than suicide. I've cried several times this week.
I had been putting off reading anything specifically religious this week, but I went on and bought this translation of Julian of Norwich's The Revelation of Divine Love (my review of the book in general). She wrote back in the 14th century, but I find her work to be the truest expression of my view of God the mother/father that I can find. And reading it soothes me. Because Julian believed in a God of love, who loved us all like a mother/father, and who lets us make mistakes so that we can learn from them. And that's what I believe too.
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| Me with my niece |
"But all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well." - Julian of Norwich
:)
ReplyDeleteJanelle, I know you've felt the same way this week. I love you, sweetie.
DeleteLove you too, Erin. I'm so appreciative of the family of friends we have.
DeleteI'm so sad to hear about your friend, Erin. My heart hurts to think about it. My mom was recently diagnosed with an illness that, while curable, is going to take some getting through, and I had my share of crying this weekend due to that. I am an atheist, and have been pretty much my whole life, but I feel positively about many of the basic tenants of various religions around the world--the parts that say to treat other people with kindness and to support each other. I believe that people can be awful, but that people can also be amazing, and it's the amazing part of humanity that I try to remember when the awful starts getting to be too much.
ReplyDeleteThank you, darling! I'll pray for you and your mother - not because you asked me, or even necessarily want me to, but because lifting up people and thinking of them is a beneficial thing to do. I never pray for people to be healed - I've never prayed for God to heal me - but I do hold you and your mother in my heart and I hope that my love will help you get through this.
DeleteI appreciate the sentiment of being in someone's prayers, so thank you. :) I'm sending good vibes your way, which is my version of things.
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